Mansion building was serious business for the Chettiars, who poured all their money and heart into constructing their dream homes. I gazed at the furnishings in wonder and entered my own room to discover a private terrace and walls painted in the illusive trompe l'oeil technique. 'The black granite columns that you see in the large hall were from Spain, whereas the blue cast-iron pillars in the central courtyard came all the way from Birmingham in England.' 'The timber came from Burma, mirrors and chandeliers were brought from Belgium and the marble for the floor was procured from Italy,' noted Chandramouli. Although most of them lie in ruins, a handful have been converted into heritage hotels and museums by enthusiastic owners who are working to keep the Chettiar legacy alive. Today, Chettinad is famous for its fiery chicken Chettinad dish and the much sought-after antiques from Karaikudi, but most travellers remain unaware of these luxurious mansions spread over the remaining 73 villages in the region. It turned out to be the darkest period in their history, forcing the Chettiars to seek employment outside Chettinad, with many migrating out of India and abandoning their abodes. When World War Two began in 1939, however, overseas trading took a hit and the wealth of the Chettiars quickly declined.

They rose to the peak of their economic power in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, when most mansions were built. These gigantic, often glamorous, houses were built by the rich merchant families of the Nattukottai Chettiar community, who amassed great wealth by trading precious stones in Southeast Asia. More than 10,000 lavish mansions dot the Chettinad region, many of them spanning tens of thousands of square feet. Silhouetted against the dark orange sky, the Chettinad mansions, as they are known, looked exquisitely beautiful but desolately empty. As my taxi made its way through the damp streets into the sleepy surrounding hamlets, I noticed hundreds of huge crumbling villas flanking the narrow village lanes. Evening had fallen by the time I alighted from my train in Karaikudi, a town in the Chettinad region in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and there was a light drizzle.

Analysing architecture